Q: Who do you think were the best free-agent acquisitions former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels and his staff made? Who was that special-teams player the Broncos received from the Colts, who got injured last year — is he still under contract?

A: Tom, the Broncos spent plenty of money in free agency during McDaniels’ tenure, particularly in the defensive line.

But they didn’t get their expected return from many of those expenditures. In fact they didn’t get the return from most of their expenditures.

The one player who was the biggest success story was wide receiver Brandon Lloyd. But it took Lloyd over a year to find success.

Lloyd was signed by the Broncos in June of 2009 and then proceeded to be buried on the team’s depth chart in McDaniels’ first season. Lloyd was inactive for the first 14 games that season.

He had flashed big-play ability in his time with the 49ers (who drafted him in the fourth round in 2003), Washington and Chicago, but never found consistency or a day-to-day role in those offenses.

Lloyd has since admitted that he developed a reputation with some of his former coaches and teammates as something of a malcontent.

Lloyd caught four passes for 96 yards in the 2009 season finale — a game in which McDaniels suspended star wide receiver Brandon Marshall — and seemed to take off from there. He made plays in training camp in 2010 and then had 25 catches in the first four games.

He finished the year with 77 receptions for 1,448 yards — he led the NFL in receiving yards — and earned his first Pro Bowl trip.

So, Lloyd takes the title of biggest free agency success from the past two seasons, but he wasn’t high on the list of prospects McDaniels wanted to sign in ’09. He came in for a workout in June of that year and McDaniels and the coaches saw enough to take a flyer on him.

The other player you asked about was outside linebacker Darrell Reid. Reid signed with the hopes he could add a little something to the pass rush and bolster the team’s special teams.

He had 14 tackles in ’09, playing in all 16 games. Reid then had knee surgery in February 2010 and missed the entire offseason program last year, as well as training camp.

Reid was released in September — the same day defensive end Jarvis Green, one of the worst free agent signings the Broncos made in years and who never played a down for the team, and wide receiver Brandon Stokley were cut — and most in the league believe his career is likely over because of the severity of his knee injury.

Reid had suffered extensive cartilage damage during the ’09 season, as well as some wear and tear from previous seasons, and sought several medical opinions after the season was completed.

He did not have microfracture knee surgery — but elected to have another kind of procedure and was unable to return.

Five games into the season, second-year Avalanche forward J.T. Compher suffered a concussion, suddenly putting a halt to a campaign with so much promise. The former University of Michigan captain missed 16 games from Oct. 16 to Nov. 21, returning the day after Thanksgiving with a two-goal performance at Arizona in which he scored shorthanded -- twice -- on the...